ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603040050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY
Pulaski County Deputy Sheriff J.A. Ratcliffe stopped on the Peppers Ferry Bridge on Friday afternoon to see if he could help a woman standing above the icy New River.
But before he could even talk to her, the Christiansburg woman jumped to her death.
Rescue workers pulled Peggy F. Lester, 47, from the river within 15 minutes after her plunge, but she never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at Radford Community Hospital.
Sheriff's Capt. M.L. Alderman said the apparent suicide is pretty much a closed case, given that it was witnessed by the deputy and by another driver who had stopped to offer assistance. A person on the riverbank saw Lester jump. Ratcliffe just happened across the scene along eastbound Virginia 114 near the Radford Army Ammunition Plant, Alderman said.
Lester left no note at the scene or at her home, he said. It is unclear how she reached the bridge, since she never learned to drive a car; all investigators know is that Lester had left a note on her home telling one of her family members that she had gone to Radford, Alderman said. Her family said Lester did not know how to swim, he said.
LENGTH: Short : 33 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB